When he was 3, Jarrett Krosoczka’s grandparents told him he’d be staying with them “for some time” because his mother, Leslie, “had to go away.” It would be years until he found out how her heroin addiction consigned her to jail and halfway houses. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLISĪ sequence from “Hey, Kiddo” shows Jarrett Krosoczka’s evolution as an artist from childhood to his later teenage years - as well as his reasons for drawing. Jarrett Krosoczka says he handled all the artwork for his new book “Hey, Kiddo” because “I didn’t want anyone’s hands on the book but mine.” Graphic novelists typically contract out some of the background coloring, he says. Jarrett Krosoczka says many people - most notably his wife, Gina, and his late grandparents - helped him become a children’s book author and artist. Jarrett Krosoczka thumbs through some of the many drawings he compiled for his new book, the graphic memoir “Hey, Kiddo.” STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS Jarrett Krosoczka, seen here in his Easthampton studio, says many people - most notably his wife, Gina, and his late grandparents - helped him become a successful children’s book author and artist through their steadfast support. Jarrett Krosoczka did hundreds of initial sketches, detailed line drawings and colored backing pages for “Hey, Kiddo,” his longest work ever - over 300 pages. Jarrett Krosoczka compares an earlier drawing from “Hey, Kiddo” with the finished scene from the book. At right is a letter his mother, Leslie, wrote him when he was boy. It’s his first book for young adult readers. Jarrett Krosoczka pages through his new book, “Hey, Kiddo,” a graphic memoir of his early life. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLISĪn early draft from a scene in the prologue of “Hey, Kiddo,” in which a teenage Jarrett Krosoczka visits a cemetery with his grandfather, Joe. Some early self-portraits from “Hey, Kiddo” of Krosoczka as a young boy and a teenager. In his graphic memoir “Hey, Kiddo,” Jarrett Krosoczka’s first book for young adult readers, he tells a coming-of-age story that also tackles his mother’s heroin addiction. His grandfather always supported his dream of being an artist, he said. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLISĪ picture of Joe Krosoczka, Jarrett Krosoczka’s grandfather, in Krosoczka’s Easthampton studio.

His grandparents, Joe and Shirley, who raised him, are in the middle photograph. Photographs of Jarrett Krosoczka’s family.

Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka